I just went ahead and pulled the trigger on lot 11.  I was over there thinking - too much thinking/over-thinking I do believe - but it just doesn't make sense to not get the revenue from a lot that I can readily fill.  Waiting to see whether people will come short term or not seems to be irrelevant considering 1: they really aren't, at least not at the moment and 2: there is going to be another pull through available at the end of April. 

Losing that money for an entire month seems stupid on my part.  I'll keep 2 pull throughs open for short term and hope it fills up more than it currently is.  I've already got someone to move in in the next couple of days.  I raised my rent to $475 per month - it will be that rate from now on.  It includes electricity and the electric part is why I'm raising the rent.  I'm doing great with electricity right now, but give it a couple of months and that bills is going to steadily inch higher.  Get into June and it's going to sky rocket.  

I'm probably going to start telling everyone that the rent is going up as of 30 days from their payment. Not everyone tho. The older couple I'll leave, another guy that is almost never there and doesn't leave his AC on all the time I won't raise and another one whose trailer is maybe 20 feet long and he also doesn't have AC running all the time will have their rates kept at what they are. 

I'm targeting the people that have their AC's on all day long - but mostly that targeting is the 50 amp trailers that have 2 AC's and I just don't feel like paying that much for electricity without more money coming in to replace it.  

In about 2-1/2 weeks, I am figuring with the long term people that I will have around 10 grand in the bank. That's after paying the windshield, the electric and water bills. The water bill is amazingly low considering how many people are in there. But, I suspected the usage wouldn't be that great with people gone all day long.  That means the septic system isn't getting strained, either.  

Anyway, I'm trying to figure out how much to pay myself to keep myself afloat.  But I think 3 grand is good and figure around $1,500 worth of taxation added onto that.  So it's actually $4,500 gross pay.  I still need to make an appointment with the CPA and I'm going to do that this week.  The taxes on that 3 grand may be slightly higher.  I definitely have to spend the money on an accountant, I just am not going to take that chance with the IRS trying to screw me.  I haven't paid myself anything thus far.  But it's a coming, and coming soon. 

Now, I am waiting on the electrician - still.  I have sent him 2 texts today and have received no reply.  It's been hours now.  Since I have a person paying for the use of an electrician, I'm not going to worry too much about what needs left done. I have done the lion's share of the work.  I have saved myself probably 10k worth of money.  That's not even an exaggeration, that is probably low balling it.  

But what about this shower and toilet install?  I'd like to have someone come install those for me.  Especially the shower.  I watched a very lengthy video about the shower stall installation this morning and it gave me a headache. The least I can do is try to find a competent handyman and see what they would charge.  I have the shower stall, the toilet and the sewer line is at least close to where both will go.  I just placed a request in the local gossip facebook forum.  The worst that can happen is a ridiculously high price which will motivate me to do it myself. But if I got, say, a grand quote, I'd be all over it. Yes, please and thank you.  

I just want it over with and I don't want to have to fool with it forever.  I want to get HipCamp going and for all the time it took me to get to where I'm at with the washer and dryer, I could see it taking another month.  I am not a framer, shower installer, toilet installation person.  I have to learn as I go and I don't really want to have to learn skills that I may never even have to use again.  

Oh good grief, I forgot to take a look at a potential 15th RV lot.  I am quite sure my septic system can handle another RV in there full time.  I just don't want the potential lot too far from where the pipe runs into the septic system, it will be easier to install and not much pipe.  Same with electricity, it can run off the closest pedestal and same thing, not too much wire equals not too much cost.  If I can get away with 2 grand to make a new lot, I'm all over it. That's do it myself, but that is much easier than all of that stuff in the shed, gag.  $400 pedestal, $200 at most water line, same with sewer line, $300 wiring (at most), rent a machine - $400 and a truckload of gravel - $700.  $2,100 give or take.  $400 more if I rent a bulldozer (probably recommended).  We're talking 5 months to repay itself.

Actually, now that I think of it, if I run it off the end of the line, it's going to be 26 feet to the next proposed set up. Yeah, my calculations are probably pretty close.  It will be more gravel than I need, but I have plenty of use for gravel elsewhere.  The 2 pull through lots that are short term both need extra gravel put down on one side.  

 I was pleasantly surprised this morning to see the next electric bills. There are 2 of them, 7 lots on each meter.  The total is $600.  That isn't much more than I paid last month.  Now, I know it's going to go up for summer, but for right now? I'm seeing some savings on power that can go towards getting my business checking account starting to go up instead of all of these endless start up payments and such keeping it - well not too low but certainly now where I want to see it. I'd like 5 grand minimum in there and then after that, just pay myself.  

Well, I'm paying myself out of necessity before that. I was at $4,400 in there, but that windshield is going to knock it down and so is the high Verizon payment, should be the last one.  I have a "final" bill for the first trash company and have yet to receive a bill from the new one, but the new one is $160 per month.  

 The extra bills will be gone this coming month or maybe a final verizon bill and I should hopefully be able to get a grasp on my monthly expenses. Not just in theory, but actually seeing it in the banking account.  It's been a tough road.  I've decided to - probably - let another long term in. I dunno.  Traveling season is coming if not already here, it's kind of hard to decide on this one.  

One thing for certain, lot 11 only has one reservation now that this weekend is over and done with.  It's in April.  I just blocked that date out for the pull through lot 5.   It just seems like the right thing to do, get rid of it as a overnight deal and fill it up with monthly payments.  Something is better than nothing - unless - there is a wave of reservations coming.  It's very possible, it happened last month.  

I have 2 coming in today for the pull through lots so I want to check and make sure they are clean and ready for the next campers.  I also put in a text to the electrician - are you coming today or what is your schedule?  It is still early, I got up early in case this dude shows up.  But it's been 20 minutes so far and no reply from him.  I would say I don't want to to go over there with nothing to do - but there is plenty.  

I can start taking measurements for the bathroom to go get the lumber to build the walls/wall.  I suppose I could make the bathroom the entire width of the shed at 8 feet, but it seems unnecessary.  The stall is 36 inches square.  You already know how big a toilet is,  the setup could fit in a smaller space.  I dunno, but I also need to watch some videos about framing in a shower stall.  It's probably harder than it looks, everything else has been. 

That will be my agenda today.  It's lumber, drains, a door, run electrical, finish the underground stuff outside. At least get the sewer pipe run around the corner to the other side of the shed so I can fill that trench back in.  Oh, and water pipe inside the shed as well.  Water pipe and electric will be the easy stuff.  I would just go as wide as the shower stall, but I think people need more room to move around in there and for the toilet. I wouldn't mind putting a small bench in so people can sit down after showering and drying off to deal with their clothes and redressing.  

So, I really don't have a good idea yet of how I want to structure that.  It will come to me after I get in there, start looking at it and thinking about it.  

Oh, and that other shed. I haven't built that one yet. It's for my tools. But I will have to get the trench filled in first. It won't be that much to install the rest of the sewer pipe around the corner.  And I have decided to go through the walls with the water line, so I don't need to run that any further than what it is.  I will likely cut that valve off where I stopped with it and put a cap on it instead.  

I completely spaced turning the water off to the shed.  I guess it's a good trial run, it's been on for some 5 days now with now leaks anywhere. I was over there yesterday getting my rent book - one person owes rent as of 2 days ago.  I will be contacting them today.  

I shaved that goatee/beard off this morning. It was becoming unmanageable and looking - not very good, at least in my opinion.  I would have had to buy a beard trimming kit and I just decided I don't want to fool with it anymore.  So, people are likely going to be giving me stares today once they see me without it.  No one staying at the park has seen me without a beard before. I've only had it since November, but I didn't open up until the end of December and my first guests didn't come in until either the end of December or the 1st of January.  

It's whatever to me, I might try again sometime and keep it nicely trimmed instead of just growing all over the place.  Just not good a beard trimming, I've never really had one before.  I can trim my mustache, been doing that since I was 15.  

Weight hasn't dropped any for around a week or more.  The fat loss is noticeable, tho.  Especially my gut.  I'll be keeping at Keto and doing some things to try and kick start the weight loss again.  A 2 or 3 day water only fast will help with that. 

Yesterday, I was not in a particularly good mood when I woke up.  I didn't want to go to church.  The granny and oldest kid left maybe an hour before church was going to begin.  She left without saying goodbye.  She has made it perfectly, crystal clear that the "only reason she comes down there is to see you, you and the boys".  It was so rude, she said this right in front of me, pointing at James and Taylor.  I know she isn't coming to see me, but she didn't have to do that the way she did.

She is, in fact, a fairly rude and obnoxious person, IMO, as it stands.  I tolerate her because she is James' mother.  There was a wildly drama-filled event this last week with her - well I'm not going into that on the internet.  Personal stuff that will just have to stay within the family.  I will just say that I wanted nothing to do with it and while the worst of it was going on, I was at the movies, thank God Almighty.  

The idea of living with her, tho.  She eventually wants to move down here, buy a piece of property and build a 5 bedroom house on it.  We are to all move in with her.  With her controlling style of behavior, well, I didn't sign up for that.  If it came down to move in with her or leave, well it would be an awfully difficult decision just because I've lived with this family for a long time now, but I would definitely consider leaving.  

This may be years down the road tho.  She's mostly interested in being with her grandkids.  All nice and fine, but she tries to throw the rules out the window with them when she comes.  Ensuing chaos, tho we have all started pushing back.  I'm beyond tired of it, especially on the longer stays. They were here 8 full days and 2 partial days.  That's a long time with a person that - is like that. 

Anyway, the kids finally got their way.  I decided that not going to church because of my mood was denying them an opportunity to learn more about Christ and generally be around Christians, so we went anyway.  I knew there was going to be a special guest speaker, I didn't know she was going to go on for 30 minutes beyond the normal church service time.  It was interesting, tho and a message to challenge everyone.  After that, to the property to take a look, then to Kroger's for dinner stuff and then home, where I spent a few hours cooking and then just hanging out. 

It's generally what I like to do on Sundays - versus - driving trucks down to Brownsville, Texas. I used to absolutely hate that run on Sundays.  It's an all day drive down there and you are expected to - get down there same day unless there is an issue with the truck or if the plant took too long to load.  As it stands, I am in a Facebook group devoted to drivers for that company, there are people complaining about the way the company treats it's drivers all the time on there.  And the way the company operates in general.  

The flip side to that, is that a lot of companies are extremely controlling and intrusive into driver's lives.  After GPS became publicly available decades ago, it was the first step into manipulating and controlling drivers.  "I can see where you're at and that you're stopped somewhere" s***. Yes, I stopped to take a pee, get something to eat, refuel the truck -whatever.  I always pushed back against that stuff, truck driving jobs are plenteous, they always have been even in troubled economic times.  

Then satellite got a foothold into it and then they could install all kinds of devices that they could constantly monitor 24 hours a day.  Then the cameras came - this was the most intrusive thing.  Not forward facing, but the inward facing cameras with the microphones.  I couldn't deal with that when they installed that junk in my truck and I covered it all up. 

I don't ever forget, while I'm not driving and facing having to go back to it, the ways that trucking companies treat their drivers.  I will - likely - not drive for a company ever again with inward facing cameras.  No idea yet. I can survive at least another month if not longer.   If I can keep the lots filled, probably quite a while before I cave in and say, ok, I lost, I have to go back.  But, I am going to still keep trying to get a loan to expand. I only need about 125k.  That isn't really that much money in the business world for getting money to - make more money.  I could easily afford to make the payments and still take in a tidy sum of profit after expenses.  Increased electric bill, water bill, yes.  

Well enough of this. Off to the bank to deposit cash and a check and then off to the property.

G'day